"Sausage and Peppers" and baked potato

Decided to branch out and give Latin flavors a shot for a while- especially since the only source for veggies within walking distance is a Mexican market. The market had some fresh chorizo that looked pretty tasty. I decided to pick up a couple of portions and play around with it this coming week. Still not a huge fan of the fresh stuff. You can't really chop it up/control it as well as the smoked product. This market's chorizo didn't turn out to be very spicy at all- but worked all the same. I am not a fan of bell peppers- so I went with one of its angry distant relatives with the same surname.

Here's what I did:

- Scrubbed a potato and stuck it into a 375F oven for 1 hr +15 min. 

*While the potato cooked*

- Vaccuum sealed the portion of the sausage I was going to eat and stuck it into the immersion circulator set at 160F. I was hoping the sausage might keep its shape and oils/fats if it was cooked to a low temperature- this failed. The sausage kept its shape (and was much easier to sear off in the skillet), but a lot of the fat/juice had boiled out of the casing and into the bag).

- Hot cast iron skillet- added olive oil enough to barely coat the base of the pan, seared off the sausage on either end. Didn't do a whole lot since the portion that really had contact with the pan was a narrow strip on either end. 

**Hindsight- Probably should have sliced the sausage into bit sized rings and seared them off on either end in the pan- will do next time (would work especially well if stacked)**       

- Onions- I cut an onion in half, and diced some thick rings- I wanted them to have a meaty texture and not break down quite as fast. In they went with the sausage along with all the juices from the vacuum bag the sausage cooked in. 

Added:

- Serrano Peppers 

- Dried thyme

- Salt + Pepper

- Pimenton

Cooked on high until most of the juice had boiled down, added:

- Red Wine Vinegar

- Lime juice

- Coors Light Beer (and finished the can with dinner)

Looked alright, but I had some more produce to spruce it up texturally. Added some diced raw tomatoes and some finely sliced raw serranos (since the cooked ones had lost all their color and texture to the pan-sauce). I wanted to try slicing the baked potato thinly so I could use each as a base to pile on the onion and pepper mixture and sausage. 

** Hindsight- These would be better off caramelized under a broiler w/ a little oil and then re-assembled for  plating***

- Topped everything with reduced pan juices, some Balsamic vinegar, and a little olive oil (picture was taken just prior to the balsamic and oil) and lime zest (which turned out to be irrelevant) 

Everything worked well together- The sweetness of the Onions and balsamic balanced well against the heavy heat and acidity in the dish. Slicing the potato that way made it much easier to eat- although not as visually homey as one turned into a boat and fluffed with a nice knob of butter. 

Next time I think I am going to try and keep everything in relative rings- maybe by baking each component individually on a sheet, and then layering it like a fallen tower on the plate. Alternating rings of potato, chorizo, whole round braised onions, peppers, all covered in the pan sauce. The diner could then easily take in forkfuls of each of the major components of the dish. Oh- and cilantro is 100% going in over the lime-zest in all future versions of this dish (all the cilantro the store had was old and not worth it when I visited today).